Is C-suite underestimating their staff’s well-being struggles?

Do the C-suite need to understand their employees’ well-being needs better? Are they not really aware how much their employees are struggling with their well-being? Going by the Deloitte survey report, both C-suite and employees are finding it challenging to make well-being their priority, and only work is to blame.

The survey that covered 2,100 employees and C-level executives across the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, shows that almost 70 per cent of the C-suite are contemplating switching to a job where their well-being will be better supported!

While 65 per cent of employees self-reported their physical well-being as good or excellent, C-suite’s assessment is that 89 per cent of their employees are experiencing good or excellent well-being. While only 59 per cent of employees self-reported good or excellent mental well-being, C-suite feels 84 per cent employees are in good or excellent mental health. In terms of social well-being, 51 per cent employees self-reported good well-being, according to C-suite’s assessment, there is 84 per cent social well-being amongst staff. While only 40 per cent employees self-reported financial well-being, C-suite assessment reveals 81 per cent financial well-being.

Clearly, C-suite is underestimating how much their employees are struggling to achieve physical, mental, social and financial well-being.

What is more alarming is that both C-suite and employees seem to be experiencing fatigue and poor mental health. About 43 per cent of the employees and 36 per cent of C-suite admit to feeling exhausted always or often. A significant 42 per cent of the employees and 41 per cent of the C-suite are stressed all the time or quite often. About 35 per cent employees and 40 per cent of C-suite are overwhelmed, while 24 per cent of employees and 30 per cent of C-suite admit to feeling lonely or always or frequently. In fact, 23 per cent of employees and 26 per cent C-suite even admit to feeling depressed often or always.

When both the C-suite and employees are facing well-being issues, it is quite concerning to see that over eight out of 10 global executives are of the belief that their employees are doing well in terms of physical, mental, social and financial well-being.

Quite a significant number of employees feel their executives were hardly supportive during the pandemic, while C-suite has a different take altogether. While only 47 per cent of the employees surveyed thought their executives understood how tough the pandemic period was on them, a whopping 90 per cent of the C-suite claimed to recognise how difficult and challenging the pandemic was for their employees. Only 53 per cent of employees appreciated the decision-making abilities of their organisation’s executives during the pandemic or felt their decisions were in the best interest of the staff. On the other hand, 88 per cent of the C-suite believed their decisions were commendable.

What is worrying is that only 56 per cent of the employees felt that their executives really cared about them or their well-being, but a whopping 91 per cent C-suite were under the impression that their employees believed that they did care about their well-being.